


Ex Machina

by Namilaxflowercrown (bridgeportXdrums)



Category: GOT7, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-15 09:05:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16930374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bridgeportXdrums/pseuds/Namilaxflowercrown
Summary: "I want to push the limits of what we're capable of here at Quantum. This led to advancement in cancer treatment-wait, I'm being too modest when I call it a treatment aren't I? Let's call it what it is: a cure. Unofficial for the moment until the numerous health agencies in several countries can wrap their tiny brains around what we're doing here. This hunger for innovation led to medical serums that have saved millions of lives in developing countries with contaminated and undrinkable water."By the time he paused, Mr. Kim was staring back at me with an uncomfortable scrutiny."Artificial intelligence is our next innovation,” he said with a firmness that made me further shrink away. “We could relieve the weary nurse in the middle of her 15-hour shift with an AI that can be both effective and empathetic. A true artificial yet sentient being."There was a stark silence that followed the last word.A programmer for the biggest medical software and technology companies in the world is handpicked to help forge a new frontier for the already ground-baking Quantum Industries: Artificial Intelligence.





	Ex Machina

**Author's Note:**

> This is very loosely based on a movie with the same title, but it's not completely similar. Just buckle up little starshines, okay? This is gonna be intense and a lot of fun while also being slightly insane.

Mondays are always the hardest to wrap my brain around. No matter how well-rested I was from the boring weekend I had previously, Monday still comes at me like a speeding train and then after the initial impact, it somehow disintegrates into large shards of glass that somehow embed into my skin. And there they would burrow all through the week until Friday, when I could shed the old skin and breathe free again.

But even with my job, where weekends were never guaranteed no-work days, no matter how busy or boring that weekend was, Monday’s had to be endured.

This particular Monday felt like any other ordinary Monday. I woke up cursing God and anyone who’d listen for letting me survive the night and not teleporting me back to Friday at 3 p.m. After brushing my teeth, washing my face, showering and picking out whatever was clean, I began making breakfast.

And that was the final ordinary thing I did on what felt like an ordinary Monday.

Carrying my bowl of cereal to my desk in the living room, I plopped down in front of my desktop computer. The drowsiness was still felt, hovering over me like a funeral shroud of sorts, but as stated earlier, it had to be endured. 

Mindlessly, I logged into my work email, annoyedly sighing when I realized I had twenty more emails since the last time I checked on Saturday afternoon.

_Fuck_ , I groaned.

It was a miracle that most of it was generalized bullshit. Memorandums about upcoming events and staff training. There was even an email about how one of the company’s founders was visiting today.

The email said he might drop by to speak with employees and talk about their experience at work.

_So act natural_ , the email read.

I deleted it and continued on.

Just beneath that email was one from my overhead boss Elijah with a subject line in all caps: URGENT. Timidly, I clicked on the line and immediately tilted my head curiously. It was an awfully short, one-line email for something described as urgent.

_Come directly to my office as soon as you get in. Make sure to clock in at your desk before you see me._

The email was overly ominous and too vague to ease my mind of why my overhead boss would need to speak to me. After all, Elijah and I were on good terms and he recently praised my work with the software update on his computer. So it’s not like this meeting was a bad thing, right?

If this was how my week was starting, this was going to be a shitty week.

 

The day only seemed to get weirder as I walked past security, brandishing my work ID at security when I reached the office. Everyone was buzzing. It was low and hushed but feverish. I guess people were excited this Monday morning. 

Quickly turning on my computer and watching as it booted, I sighed. Even after the three years of working here, this computer was running like melting butter. It easily booted and never whined when I asked it to do something slightly complicated. It wasn’t temperamental like many computers the company used for employees and it made clocking in a breeze.

A few people threw some waves in my direction, a casual good morning offered in response, all of which I mumbled back polite responses. I reached Elijah’s office by 8:04 a.m. but not before dropping by the office kitchen to grab myself a cup of coffee for the caffeine boost I so desperately needed right about now.

Elijah wasn’t there. That was the first unusual clue upon entering his office. The second was how immaculate it looked. Typically Elijah was juggling several projects at once, reams upon reams and stacks upon stacks of paper were always sprawled over the desk, sometimes even hiding his keyboard from plain view. But today, Elijah’s desk was unobstructed from every angle. All the piles of paper completely gone. In fact, I’m not sure I even knew his desk was glass before this morning.

I took a seat awkwardly, waiting in his office just as his assistant instructed.

_He’s dealing with something, he’ll be with you shortly _, she said sweetly.__

__Thankfully she was telling the truth. Within minutes Elijah’s tall form strolled into the room. I immediately stood up, holding my coffee in one hand and a notebook in the other in case he needed me to take down notes or if he needed me to draw a mock-up of something--both of which have happened while I was in meetings with him._ _

__“Morning Lucy, I trust you had a good weekend?” he offered, trying to begin with light chat._ _

__I shrugged, “I worked most of Friday and Saturday so, it wasn’t so bad I suppose.”_ _

__It seemed like Elijah just remembered I had to write up my feedback report for my last project. As he nodded in understanding, he seemed to check the time on his watch before shooting out a nervous smile._ _

__“Did you have a good weekend?” I prodded._ _

__“We can talk about that later,” he said as he squirmed slightly in his chair. “Now, I assume you’ve heard about how important today is.”_ _

__“About one of the founders coming in today?”_ _

__“Namjoon Kim will be in.”_ _

__Immediately I froze. I’m not sure if I was even breathing. Curiously, I eyed Elijah, trying to gauge if this was another one of his poorly executed pranks, but it seemed like he wasn’t joking. Kim Namjoon was a legend and not just in our company._ _

__According to several medical industry periodicals and TIME magazine, Mr. Kim was both a virtuoso and visionary. Though he might’ve only been in his late-20s and still in the early stages of his career, the comparisons between he and Steve Jobs were already being drawn. And in some cases, I could see their point. Namjoon founded the company Quantum with a fellow Cambridge University buddy (whose name escapes me at this very moment) that conducted research in several medical fields and had research facilities in several countries. This same company expanded five years ago to incorporate a development division that included medical equipment and software that hospitals could benefit from._ _

__In his relatively short career, Namjoon and his core team based in Korea broke ground in key areas for medicine and just announced a push toward a cure for certain types of cancer like lymphoma and breast cancer. With every new advancement he and his team made, and every announcement turning into a huge media frenzy, it was hard not to connect the dots._ _

__So it was a big day for a lot of people. I didn’t feel it earlier, but I could feel it now._ _

__While Quantum’s London location served as the business and development division headquarters, most of the research and initial ideas and theories that became assignments and projects for the development division came from South Korea and there is where Kim Namjoon typically stayed. He only came out to London on rare occasions to meet with the foreign board members about something he was working on in Korea and to grab votes on important company decisions. At least this was the common chatter I heard about Mr. Kim._ _

__“What’s on your schedule today?” he asked as he nervously glanced at his watch again._ _

__Mentally going through my to-do list, I shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m mostly returning emails about the office-wide software update for the interdepartmental--”_ _

__“Scrap everything.”_ _

__“What?”_ _

__“Clear your entire schedule.”_ _

__“But I’m--what?”_ _

__“I need you to free up your schedule for the day.”_ _

__“Okay…” I trailed off, tilting my head curiously at my on-edge boss. “Can I ask why?”_ _

__“I need you in the meeting.”_ _

__“What meeting?”_ _

__“The small Quantum board meeting that Namjoon Kim will be heading.”_ _

__“But why--”_ _

__“I really wish I had more time to explain but that meeting happens in literally ten minutes and it’s on the top floor.”_ _

__My eyes bugged out as I shot out of my seat, cursing as I felt my breathing become erratic._ _

__“Elijah, I’m not even wearing business formal attire,” I whispered out, gesturing to my clothes. A plain black v-neck, pink cardigan, black skinny jeans and a pair of heavy worker boots were a far cry from appropriate business meeting attire, especially when it came to a board meeting. These were stockholders and major players within the upper tier of the company I worked for._ _

__I was just a worker bee who sat and typed in code._ _

__“It’ll be fine,” Elijah brushed off, shrugging limply. Nothing about his expression assured me that it would be fine._ _

__Before I could ask for clarification, he abruptly stood, throwing on his suit jacket and straightening out his cufflinks. I was still immobile, horrified at what Elijah was telling me. And to be honest, it still wasn’t making sense._ _

__“Elijah, I’m still extremely lost--”_ _

__“I get this is really sudden, but we need a programmer sitting in on this.”_ _

__“Why?”_ _

__“Let’s walk and talk,” he suggested, nodding toward the door. Collecting his own notebook, pen, phone and iPad, it took him a couple of strides before he left his office completely, waiting for me to exit so he could close the door._ _

__Following closely behind him, my coffee cooling every second I didn’t drink it and my notebook and pen in the other, I asked the question again. “Why do you guys need a programmer?”_ _

__“It’s per request of Mr. Kim.”_ _

__That only made my confused frown deepen. “Why not ask Henley?”_ _

__“Because I asked for you,” he snapped, slowing down enough to press the up button at the elevators. “I’m well aware of everyone sitting in my department and I’m well aware of their seniority over you, but you’re suited to this.”_ _

__“What, taking notes?”_ _

__“A potential promotion.”_ _

__Before I could ask another question, the elevator dinged, opening up to allow Elijah and me into it. The elevator ride was short and quiet, my mind processing the idea this meeting could end with me getting a promotion. But what did a promotion look like for a company coder? What would my promotion even be? Elijah’s position was the highest position for a programmer at this particular location and it didn’t look like Elijah was going anywhere soon. He was too good at his job._ _

__Instead of asking another question, I let the brief silence naturally stretch as the elevator ride continued. Even when we reached the top floor, a great deal of men and a sparse couple of women stood and chatted, I kept quiet and to myself. If I were being honest, I had no idea what Mr. Kim looked like. Sure, there were plenty of places for me to go to look up his image, something an easy Google search could fix, but I never felt the need to know what he looked like. What good would it have served me to know what the owner of my company looked like? It wasn’t like there were copious amounts of opportunities to meet him in the first place._ _

__With that being said, did that mean one of these people was Mr. Kim? No one looked overly uncomfortable or even remotely like they were prostrating to any one individual. They all looked like they were communicating with equals. All I knew was that Mr. Kim couldn’t have been all that old. The company was relatively young, having started it at a really young age._ _

__Another glance around the people gathered I noticed that everyone present was older. Mid-to-late 40s and above. Elijah and I had to be the only young people here at the moment._ _

__Elijah weaved his way through the crowd, greeting board members. Some of the faces were familiar, faces previously seen at company functions or the huge charity fundraiser dinner held annually around Christmastime. Others were a complete mystery. Being the oompa loompa that I was, I never got chances to know who any of these people were. But I watched in awe as Elijah greeted the few that took notice of him and wordlessly followed the path he was creating as he weaved._ _

__“Elijah, are you ready for today?”_ _

__He gave a tentative shrug, “I guess we’ll see. I need to help get everything fired up in the meeting room, but we can catch up just before the meeting.”_ _

__“Absolutely!”_ _

__“Has he made it in yet?”_ _

__The question seemed so heavy considering how the other man’s expression changed. Slightly nervous, the other man shook his head, “I’m not even sure if he’s in the building yet.”_ _

__My boss didn’t seem to question it any further and with a short glance to me, he invited me into the large meeting room. It looked a lot like a lecture hall. Long tables with several seats to each row. Everything was at a declining angle, the front of the room at the lowest point and the back of the room, the highest._ _

__As we entered from the side, I took a moment to also notice the fancy soundboard and the small black mics that only rose an inch off of the tabletops. Along the back wall there was a full continental breakfast. The choice of fruit cups, croissants, English muffins, regular muffins, bagels, yogurt and granola bars. Alongside it were pitchers of water, tea kettles and a Keurig._ _

__I took it upon myself to wander for a moment, deciding to make myself a cup of tea and dump my ice cold coffee. As I waited for the kettle to fully heat, the meeting room door opened to reveal a heavy-set older man who slowly waddled into the room. He looked over the options of food and sighed._ _

__“They used to have a great spread at these things.”_ _

__“I suppose muffins aren’t so bad,” I quipped, unsure of what to say._ _

__“As opposed to real breakfast items like waffles or doughnuts,” he replied simply._ _

__After a few beats of silence, the man turned his attention to me, which made me turn my gaze to him._ _

__“I don’t think I’ve seen you before. You’re not a new board member are you?” he asked, obviously joking._ _

__“I don’t usually get invites to these things.”_ _

__“Obviously,” he responded, gesturing to my clothes. “Last minute?”_ _

__Looking down at my outfit yet again, I gave a nervous laugh. “Yeah, wasn’t expecting to be here today.”_ _

__“You must be the programmer then.”_ _

__My ears perked up at the statement. How did he even know?_ _

__“I am.”_ _

__“You seem to be on the docket,” he said, holding out his open, leather-bound folder holding the meeting’s agenda._ _

__I’ll be damned. My name was right there in bold black ink._ _

__Before I could think of glancing further up on the agenda to see what the meeting would be about, he pulled the folder shut, placing it underneath his arm as he moved to pour himself a cup of coffee._ _

__“Lucy! I need you for a second,” Elijah called out._ _

__Jumping in surprise at the sudden noise and blinking a couple of times, I scurried down the small steps until I was back at the front of the room._ _

__Elijah had several folders stacked, mostly what looked to be reports prepared for this meeting, but he was going through a separate folder, fingers sifting through pages until they gripped onto a single sheet. Motioning with his free hand for me to come closer, he pulled out a pen.  
“Before everyone starts to filter in, I need you to sign this.”_ _

__As he pushed the sheet toward me, I looked down at the bold title across the top._ _

__“A non-disclosure agreement?”_ _

__“Yes, it’s a standard one. Don’t discuss proprietary information or details mentioned or discussed in this meeting to anyone not in attendance. Breach of contract can result in immediate termination, so on, so forth.”_ _

__My nerves only got worse as I took a long moment to soak in what I was about to sign. Besides, hadn’t I signed one similar to this when I was first hired?_ _

__“Why do I need to sign this?”_ _

__“You can’t stay if you don’t sign.”_ _

__It didn’t take anything else after that. Immediately, I leaned forward on the table, bent at the waist as I quickly scribbled my signature and date, initialling in a couple of places as well._ _

__Elijah gave me an encouraging nod and for the first time this morning, he finally felt like the boss that hired me three years ago. With his hands on my shoulders, he gave me a firm shake and nodded._ _

__“You will not be sorry about this, I can promise you,” he said, a tone of pride in his voice. “Just, sit here for the meeting and don’t be shy. Mr. Kim isn’t so scary when you actually meet him.”_ _

__

__What an absurd lie._ _

__By the time all the board members settled into their seats and the smell of coffee densely permeated the air around me, Mr. Kim was said to be just outside the doors handling a phone call with his team in Seoul._ _

__Everyone’s energy changed exponentially at the news. Some people seemed excited to start the board meeting, only one person complaining about needing to be at the airport by noon to make his flight. But most people were anxious. From the conversations I overheard, Mr. Kim hardly called everyone together like this. The infrequency of these board meetings only added to some of the anxious vibes swelling through the room like slow-rolling wave. Apparently, the last time was a year ago when they made a medical breakthrough with incubators._ _

__His presence could be felt the second the doors at the very back of the room opened. At that point, I couldn’t see anything. But I could hear the dense silence that crept over the room as he slowly entered. Row after row, board members nodded respectfully at him as he descended the stairs to the front of the room._ _

__And by the time he reached the front, it took everything I had not to make a sound. As he passed me, I caught a whiff of his cologne. He even smelled like success and money with notes of depth to the scent. It wasn’t like any designer cologne I’d smelled before._ _

__Once he was at the front, it became clear that the whole room respected this man. His perfectly straight posture exuded the demand for said respect, but so did so many other things about him. His pointed gaze was so hard to stay under but it was impossible to move or look away. So I was left for looking down at my packet by the time his head turned in the direction of my side of the room. I didn’t want him to look at me._ _

__“Ladies and gentlemen of the board, thank you for meeting here with such short notice.”_ _

__Those were his first words. Mr. Kim’s voice was so deep compared to many of the men I worked beside everyday. It was rough in some ways but had the consistency of honey. It was hard to accurately explain. All I was completely sure of was how much it made me shrink in my seat._ _

__Mr. Kim didn’t speak for a while after that. Another board member took over the boring tasks of taking attendance and going over stock profiles, investment profiles and a bunch of other things on numerous spreadsheets. I could feel my attention slipping and every once in a while I looked over to Elijah. I was trying to see if he would give any indication as to when this meeting would pertain to why I was here. He gave no such indications at any point. Which is probably why I was so freaked out when I saw Mr. Kim stand, buttoning his suit jacket and nodding at the room._ _

__“I want to preface this section of the meeting by saying I don’t usually do this,” he said, his eyes slowly roving over the room. “But considering the impact of this topic and the actions of one of our own, not only did we save an entire line of MRI equipment with software upgrades and the inevitable millions of dollars in recalls and fixes with the coding glitch, but we were able to see a hike in the profit margin. This can be seen in the returns in your packet toward the back. Page 18, titled Project Nemo.”_ _

__I caught Elijah in my peripheral vision beaming. He seemed so proud. Like many things, I assumed Elijah would be taking credit for this._ _

__Yes, finding the coding glitch in the MRI updates and new models was my accomplishment, but everything in programming typically went under Elijah’s name and that didn’t bother me one bit. He was my boss after all. And I wasn’t in this job to be recognized for my individual work. I was just here to work._ _

__“Lucy Toussaint is a coder in the programming unit here at the Quantum research and development headquarters in London,” he continued with ease, seemingly memorizing this information as he wasn’t reading anything. “After noticing a potentially fatal error in coding, she led a special team of engineers, coders and medical experts to develop a safer, user-friendly program for the new MRI fleet. Ms.Toussaint, please stand and be recognized by this distinguished board.”_ _

__Slowly I rose from my seat, one of my hands cradling my elbow as I turned slightly to look at the room only to quickly turn back to the front and face Elijah. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do except stand there._ _

__“If you want to thank anyone for the bump in return you’ll receive this next quarter, you’re looking at her,” Mr. Kim announced. And that’s when I noticed his brown eyes were staring directly at me. Had I not been wearing the cardigan, I probably would’ve blamed the chill spreading down my spine on the air conditioning. “She’s a rising star at Quantum and we look to see her do bigger and greater things with us in the future. Remember this face and remember her name.”_ _

__Not even three minutes later, they were adjourning the meeting._ _

__The board member from earlier announced a closed session with the founder’s board would take place and I looked at Elijah. Was I free to go now?_ _

__“Come on Lucy,” he said, standing and grabbing his folders and tablet. “Are you ready to meet Mr. Kim?”_ _

__

__It didn’t take me long to figure out that I was at the center of this closed session. As soon as I walked into the small board room, all eyes were on me._ _

__The first to speak was an older woman who was definitely from Asia judging by her accent._ _

__“Lucy Toussaint right?” She asked politely._ _

__“Yes ma’am.”_ _

__“Oh, what a lovely name for such a smart girl.”_ _

__“Thank you,” I mumbled out awkwardly. I wasn’t complimented that often, so when I was, I had no idea how to handle it._ _

__“I hate to cut the pleasantries short but Mr. Donahue has to catch a flight by noon, and I can’t be sure how long this will take,” Mr. Kim said, his tone firm and assertive._ _

__“What will take?” I asked without even really thinking it. I could tell by the surprised faces around the table, people didn’t often ask these things of Mr. Kim._ _

__“I have a possible career opportunity for you, something you might be interested in.”_ _

__I quickly took my seat after that, placing my hands in my lap and waiting for Mr. Kim to begin. Thankfully, it didn’t take long._ _

__His light brown skin glowing against the stark white wall behind him and the glass window walls to the sides, he nodded at the table of maybe eight people._ _

__“I came to London for this gathering today,” he began, eyes lingering on me just long enough to see that I was indeed paying attention. “I have some critical updates to inform you of with my team back in South Korea.”_ _

__It took me a moment to realize I was about to hear something that I would never typically hear without there being a large media frenzy surrounding it. This was highly confidential information, stuff that had nothing to do with my actual job, yet here I was._ _

__The vibe of the room was different, far more restrained and poised than earlier. Perhaps all of the people at this table knew what was being announced. Perhaps they all had somewhat general ideas of what Mr. Kim would spring on all of us. Maybe I was the only one out of the loop._ _

__“We have been working tirelessly toward this. My co-founder Mark Tuan and I started Quantum because of this very basic idea: How could we help improve the world of medicine? This single idea led to the theory of something that could only be described as a dream. Technology wasn’t fast enough, they said. No one would be accepting of this, they said. Updates like this were unneeded, they continued on,” Mr. Kim stated, his eyes wandering from person to person, spending equal time with them as he went around the table. He seemed to be good at addressing an entire room, no matter how full it was. “With all of the rapid improvements to medical equipment to the serums and medicine we help develop and, in turn, provide--there’s only one place I feel we’re lacking.”_ _

__I shifted in my seat, nervous about what he could say next. This is why Mr. Kim was the face of the company and why the media loved him so much. He knew how to pull you into his breadcrumb trail and lead you right where he wanted. He could do all of this while not being cheesy._ _

__Standing from his seat, he gave a momentary smile before leveling his features again. “We are working to expand our services into A.I.”_ _

__There was a feeling of the bottom of the room dropping out and the gasps were ones that started in the gut and resonated in the air thickly. It seemed that no one was prepared to hear it. And in ways, I could feel my own surprise morphing into complete awe as I stared dumbfounded at the CEO of Quantum._ _

__Artificial Intelligence._ _

__It was unheard of. Simply impossible to fathom._ _

__Lifting a finger lazily, his face morphed into one of amusement. He seemed happy enough with the reaction from everyone. No matter how much awe filled me in that moment, it didn’t take long for my analytical brain to butt into the moment. I was confused. Why this? What use would a company like Quantum have with that type of technology?_ _

__“Are we talking something along the lines of our SMART incubators?” Elijah asked, cutting through the thick silence._ _

__Mr. Kim shook his head, “I’m thinking something along Baymax from the movie Big Hero 6 but more human.”_ _

__The choruses of laughter from the older members at the table sounded almost flabbergasted. It was already hard to fathom a successful model of a robot in this lifetime, but he wanted a robot that could help within the medical world._ _

__Why the hell would we need a robot to work in hospitals?_ _

__“This is a project my team is ready to start, we’re just missing a key piece: Lucy.”_ _

__My eyes immediately bulged as my head whipped around to look at Elijah. So this was the possible job promotion he mentioned earlier. Working for Mr. Kim’s personal development team was an incredibly big deal. The small team he worked with in Korea hadn’t changed since the beginning. The rumor is most of the members were people he and Mark knew growing up and in college. No one had ever been extended an invitation to work with them even temporarily. But all of a sudden, Mr. Kim flew all the way to London to ask me._ _

__And I didn’t understand why._ _

__I wasn’t even sure if I understood why he wanted to have artificially intelligent robots in medicine._ _

__As everyone stared at me, my eyes tracked the rest of the room until I was nervously staring back at Mr. Kim. I held his stare just long enough to lose control of my mouth for a split second._ _

__“May I ask a practical question here?” I asked, my eyes roaming between the board members before looking back at the owner of the company. He peered straight at me, and I stopped for a moment._ _

__Kim Namjoon had the power to ruin my life, fire me from my very cozy and well-paying job and write me a really bad recommendation for any future employer. If I was going to continue forward, I was going to need to enlist any sliver of decorum I could scrounge up in this moment._ _

__When I was sure I wasn’t slowly burning to death under the pointed stare Mr. Kim was giving me, I cleared my throat. “What business does a medical research company have dabbling in artificial intelligence? I mean, don’t get me wrong, my sci-fi heart is about two seconds away from flipping this table over in celebration, but I feel like this is a question that has to be answered before I can agree.”_ _

__“What are companies, businesses put on this green Earth to do?” Mr. Kim asked, slowly rising out of his chair. My eyes followed his every move, wondering if this was the question he asked people before he terminated them._ _

__Giving a glance to other tense people around the table, I shook my head and thought hard of an adequate answer. “Making money?”_ _

__The chorus of soft laughs surrounded me as I looked on, a dumb look adorning my face. I wasn't going to pretend like I knew anything about how businesses run and why they get started or even the purpose they served to the greater good of society. I was just a programmer._ _

__An amused smile graced Mr. Kim's face and for a moment I'm sure he finds me insultingly hilarious._ _

__"If you start a business to make money, I can tell you right now you'll do just fine the first quarter," he said, walking around the table, touching the back of the occupied chairs as he moved towards me. "Let me cut to the chase. The correct answer is innovation."_ _

__I shifted as he neared me, stopping and standing directly behind my boss, his hand lazily draped along the back of the cool steel of the seat._ _

__"Innovation drives us all towards a goal that's just tangible enough without feeling like we're mad for even attempting it," he continued. "I want to push the limits of what we're capable of here at Quantum. This led to advancement in cancer treatment--wait, I'm being too modest when I call it a treatment aren't I? Let's call it what it is: a cure. Unofficial for the moment until the numerous health agencies in several countries can wrap their tiny brains around what we're doing here. This hunger for innovation led to medical serums that have saved millions of lives in developing countries with contaminated and undrinkable water."_ _

__By the time he paused, Mr. Kim was staring back at me with an uncomfortable scrutiny. I almost regretted asking the question._ _

__"Artificial intelligence is our next innovation,” he said with a firmness that made me further shrink away. “We could relieve the weary nurse in the middle of her 15-hour shift with an AI that can be both effective and empathetic. A true artificial yet sentient being."_ _

__There was a stark silence that followed the resonation of this last word._ _

___Being._ _ _

__It hung in the air for a rather long moment, bouncing off of the meeting room’s glass windows and filling everyone with a sense of grandeur. Mr. Kim held in-person meetings for this very reason: He had some groundbreaking idea he wanted the board to vote on. And now, he was offering me a chance to take part in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. To help create an artificially intelligent being. I’d be lying if I said there weren’t goosebumps raising off of every inch of my arms and neck._ _

__“You see, my own mom having been a nurse, I understand human error from long work hours is an inevitable part of this job. It makes hiring and trusting that your nurse isn’t misreading your chart or grabbing the wrong medicine for injection somewhat difficult,” he continued._ _

__“But that’s why they train and go to school, is it not?” I asked, shifting in my seat yet again._ _

__With a nod, he gave me a look, “Of course. But we’re only human.”_ _

__“So you think you can help solve human error in medicine with a robot.”_ _

__“For someone as educated and in touch with technology, I thought we could’ve avoided such rudimentary and abecedarian terms like ‘robot.’”_ _

__“Robots are programmable. They follow commands written into their code, their programming.”_ _

__“If we were just talking about code or programming, I wouldn’t have asked for a meeting all the way in London,” he said, obviously now losing patience with me. “This is not about a piece of technology that can do whatever you tell it--”_ _

__“You want something that can think for itself.”_ _

__“Exactly,” he said, almost breathless. He was obviously happy I’d finally grasped the point. And it wasn’t that I didn’t understand before, it was more along the lines of clarification. I needed to understand his purpose for bringing a programmer into this conversation._ _

__“I want something that can’t just think for itself, but something that can make appropriate judgment calls when asked,” he mused, now sitting at the edge of the table right in front of me. This close proximity forced me to look up, his face baring down at me. With my breath frozen somewhere in my lungs I stared wordlessly. “Something intelligent. I want something that can comfort when needed, be a sense of hope if asked. Now, what say you to helping us make history?”_ _

__“What would I be doing?”_ _

__Mr. Kim immediately shook his head, pursing his lips together. “I cannot divulge any information about that until you agree.”_ _

__Biting my lip, I looked around the room at all the expectant faces. The older gentleman at the opposite end of the table, Mr. Tartlidge, looked like he was vaguely interested in my answer. His puffy white eyebrows furrowed slightly when he saw that I was looking at him. Immediately after that he put his head down as if not wanting to give away his own thoughts. After balancing my own thoughts on the subject, I couldn’t help but think of what would happen to my job if I said yes. He didn’t mention how long I would be gone and what would happen with my workload during that period of time. There were so many questions I needed answers to before giving an answer that I deemed adequate._ _

__“Ms. Toussaint,” Mr. Kim coaxed._ _

__When was I ever going to get a chance like this though? To help develop the first ever AI? No one’s even considering touching such advanced mechanics and engineering right now, considering everyone is in a financial bind. Meanwhile, Quantum was experiencing both exponential profits and their stock profile only grew with each new medical breakthrough developed by Mr. Kim and a very close group of people._ _

__The answer was never. Never would I ever get an opportunity to do something even partially as important and cool as this. It was now or never._ _

__I looked up, my eyes locking in on the cold brown eyes that stared back, placid and waiting for an answer. From his stoic expression, I considered for a moment that Mr. Kim must’ve been a man that didn’t hear the word no all that often. Rejection was hardly a norm in his day-to-day life and certainly not in his business life._ _

__So it only seemed natural to say the three words that so easily formed in the back of my throat._ _

__“I’ll do it.”_ _

__

__“Wait, how long are you gone?” my roommate asked, following me around my room as I continued packing my suitcase._ _

__I hesitated to answer. If I answered the truth, which was somewhere along the lines of ‘I don’t know,’ it’d probably sound like I was just ditching and moving all the way back home. But at the same time, I really didn’t know, so putting a time stamp on something as indefinite as going to work on an AI seemed reckless and a tad misleading. Throwing in a pair of sweatpants and a couple hoodies, I watched as the colors regurgitated over the contents of my suitcase before coming up with an answer that was slightly more suitable and acceptable...at least to me._ _

__“I shouldn’t be gone long,” I said, adding in a little shrug to lighten the mood._ _

__“That doesn’t make any sense, and why is this so sudden?”_ _

__“I don’t know Jesy. My boss only told me about this opportunity a mere--” I stopped long enough to check my watch, “thirteen hours ago. Let me breathe. I have no earthly idea why he couldn’t tell me days ago, but he didn’t. He told me today and I have a flight to catch in the morning.”_ _

__“But what about rent? What if you’re gone long enough to miss rent next month?”_ _

__A thought I already stressed over. “I’ve taken care of that,” I answered, walking back to my closet to pick out a nice dress. The letter did say there would be a couple occasions where I’d need to dress more formally than normal. My fingers sifting through the varying materials, I wondered which would actually be appropriate for dinner with the owner and showrunner of the company that employed you. Definitely not the hot pink dress with missing material in the back to show off tanned skin. Nope. Not that one at all. No matter how eager I was to impress Mr. Kim. “I’ll send over my half of the rent--”_ _

__“Would you be gone that long?” she asked with surprise._ _

__“Well, no way to tell really. I guess it depends on how fast I work,” I commented. “But this is just in case I have to do that. Right now, I don’t think I have to worry about it, but better to smooth that out just in case than to try and settle this while I’m away.”_ _

__Her green eyes tracked me as I took my simple black dress with the annoying pencil skirt off the hanger. Folding it gingerly to fit into my suitcase, I made a silent prayer that the hotel I was staying at would have an iron._ _

__When Jesy made no more protests, I sighed in relief but thankfully it sounded more like a sigh of exasperation. Jesy knew how much I hated packing and would probably think my exasperation wasn’t directed toward her and the impossible-to-answer questions she threw at me._ _

__“Point taken,” she replied, her British accent slightly thicker now. “So what job will you be doing?”_ _

__This was the only answer Mr. Kim actually offered out of the million and one questions I asked earlier in the day. I never believed annoyance could be palpable in the space between two people until this afternoon. “A lot of work with coding for software,” I said, looking up at her as I turned around. My eyebrows rose a bit. “Exciting stuff, you know?”_ _

__She laughed and shook her head, “Only to you. I’d rather stick to my blog entries.”_ _

__I couldn’t help but laugh as well. Jesy was good at her own job. A full-time blogger that was paid to give beauty and fashion tips and test out all these new products. It was a really cool job, given beauty and fashion were her passion. While I dealt in makeup and was known to be fashionable when I wasn’t lazy or feeling the need to sport sweatpants outside, I was nowhere near the level of expertise Jesy was on. In fact, all of the knowledge I had on the subject of makeup came from her impromptu tutorials at 1 a.m. after I’d watched her take off her own._ _

__“To each his own Jesy,” I threw out, scrunching my nose up jokingly._ _

__“Right. Oh! Wait here a minute, don’t put any of your toiletries away just yet,” she said, jumping from her spot and sprinting out of the room._ _

__I stood there in mild confusion and waited. As much as this opportunity excited me, I couldn’t lie to myself: I was going to miss Jesy. She was always so sweet and helpful and my link to regular things. It was so easy to get lost in the world of code, the digital language and numbers consuming every little bit of your time and daily conversations. But Jesy was like coming up for air. She kept things normal and kept me in touch with the real world in ways I wouldn’t truly be able to do on my own._ _

__When she came back, she held a pink garment bag to me, her grin too wide and bright to deny. I matched her enthusiasm with a confused smile._ _

__“What’s this?” I asked, taking it from her. My fingers lingered at the zipper expectantly._ _

__“Well since you’re packing your no-fun Hillary Clinton black dress, I thought you should at least have another option for appropriate semi-formal attire,” she said._ _

__I laughed and gripped the zipper hesitantly for one moment before letting it drag, the bag opening and revealing a beautiful white dress. It was form-fitting and tasteful. It also looked super expensive._ _

__“It’s straight from my closet and I’m loaning it to you, so don’t get any funny ideas that you get to keep it or spill cranberry vodka on it,” Jesy continued with a sad smile._ _

__As much as Jesy pretended that a lot didn’t faze her, I was almost positive that she hated the idea of being in this apartment alone for an undefined time period. I really did feel horrible about the turn of events, but I made up my mind: I wanted in on this technological advancement._ _

__Even if that meant I had to leave behind my entire life and live in Korea for the next few weeks (presumably) to participate in this project._ _

__“This is--thank you,” I said, trying my hardest to make sense of the gesture._ _

__“Now, pull out that pink, open-back dress and do something with your hair,” Jesy said with a mischievous grin._ _

__“Why?”_ _

__“If this is your last night in London for a while, we need a night out.”_ _

__I immediately shook my head, staring at my not-nearly-packed suitcase. “Jesy, I have to catch the flight early in the morning and Heathrow is a pain to get to in general. Not to mention I’m not even finished packing.”_ _

__She flippantly waved her hand at me, shrugging. “Who gives a shit? Packing is better when you’re wasted anyway.”_ _

__“Says who?”_ _

__“Says I,” she replied as she walked backward toward the door. “Now, stop depriving me of a proper send-off of my roommate and get dressed! We’re going to have a rager!”_ _

__

__Two hours into our club hopping and Jesy already found a few people to pad our group. The night started exclusively with just the two of us without a word or invite to the many mutual friends we shared. But by the third club, which was fancier than the previous ones, our group went from two to seven. As she interacted with the people I considered strangers, I walked up to the bar, taking a seat and heaving a sigh._ _

__“What are you having sunshine?” the bartender asked._ _

__I shrugged, “Is there a menu I can look at?”_ _

__“Yeah, but since we’re kind of slow tonight, I don’t mind telling you our exclusive drink menu.”_ _

__He was cute, I supposed. He had a cute smile, a nice head of blonde hair, a friendly face. But I wasn’t in the mood for flirting and I wasn’t sure if I was even in the mood to drink, which explains my painful sobriety three clubs into our night out. Giving him a polite smile, I agreed to him reading off the exclusive drink menu. This guy was probably more bored than he was interested in flirting at the moment._ _

__As he began rattling off weird drink names with a detailed list of ingredients, I nodded my head as if I was listening, but I wasn’t. My mind was wandering to the impending adventure I would take up in six hours. The only other country I’d ever been to outside my home country and the UK where I worked was the Netherlands when I celebrated my first birthday abroad in Amsterdam._ _

__While I felt the gravity of possibilities that could come from the work I would take part in, I hadn’t even considered the exciting feeling of traveling to another country. I would have access to different kinds of food, different people and who knew what I would experience in an unfamiliar country like Korea._ _

__I was no longer paying attention and the bartender seemed to see that. He proceeded to ask me for my drink order but I stared blankly at him, my mind trapped in a thought about what would happen if I liked Korea more than the UK and wanted to move._ _

__Once the bartender gave up, I felt someone approach the bar, taking a seat two chairs down from me._ _

__“Scotch, neat please.”_ _

__The voice and accent were familiar. The low baritone with a consistency like the thickest and richest toffee. Also the scent. It was the same, almost identical to the cologne that permeated my senses during the meeting earlier in the day._ _

__Blinking myself back to reality, I looked over and gasped, holding my hand over my mouth._ _

__“Oh wow,” I mumbled, looking away as fast as I glanced over._ _

__Mr. Kim slowly let his eyes travel over to where the sound was coming from and there was a lot of praying on my end that he wouldn’t recognize me. I was wearing a dress, my hair was done differently and he couldn’t see my whole face from this angle--all things that played to my advantage._ _

__At first, my boss’ boss didn’t say anything, he just stared. I could almost see the smirk deepen the dimples in his cheeks as I slid my eyes over to take a quick look. There was a minute of me trying to refocus my mind back on the business trip, but that was hard at this point, especially when I could feel eyes burning holes into the side of my face._ _

__“You look stressed.”_ _

__My initial reaction was embarrassing as I jumped slightly. He sounded closer than I remembered. He also seemed to be focused solely on me at the moment._ _

__There were a lot of factors to take into consideration at this point. Did I even consider drinking while in front of my boss. That would be considered impolite right? And what about my dress? While the front of it looked simple enough, not showing too much cleavage and not incredibly short, my back was completely exposed. I’m sure he could even see the tiny dimples in my back if he even took a cursory glance at the back of my dress. This was just awfully awkward the more I receded into the depths of my thoughts on all the possible outcomes of this exchange._ _

__I shook my head wordlessly._ _

__“Then are you uncomfortable?”_ _

__He was prying. I don’t know why and I couldn’t be sure if it was purely innocent curiosity, but he was prying nonetheless--something I absolutely hated. I shared what I wanted and I wasn’t sure how much I could really share with the man who was over the company I worked for. But even if he was just a regular employee at the company, that couldn’t guarantee him any genuinely eye-opening or soul-revealing answers or revelations about myself._ _

__I shook my head again._ _

__“Do you consider this awkward then?”_ _

__I blinked a couple of times before turning toward him. My eyes took in his well-tailored suit. It must’ve been custom. Navy blue with a crisp, white button down beneath, no tie. He was dressed so nicely, his outfit looked like it cost more than three months of rent at my apartment. Everything on him looked expensive. The Rolex watch that he never looked at, the handkerchief that was beautifully folded and peaking out of the pocket on his suit jacket all the way down to the leather black dress shoes--everything looked expensive._ _

__But then again, Mr. Kim could afford it. As stated earlier, the company is one of the few that’s experiencing a huge bump in revenue and it’s stock profile was only growing as industry buzz about the company’s “cure for cancer” took off. Mr. Kim and his private research team in Korea made several breakthroughs in medical research. Hospitals bought in bulk from the company and it happily moved from one serum or vaccine to the next. Mr. Kim and his private research team seemed unstoppable in many ways._ _

__And here I was, just an oompa loompa in the company, a cog in an ever-evolving machine._ _

__“Is seeing your boss at a bar outside of work considered awkward?” I finally voiced._ _

__His scotch was placed right in front of him. Offering a thank you to the bartender, Mr. Kim never took his eyes off of me. With a courteous smile, I could see he was considering his answer before he nodded his head. That’s when I noticed his fingers gliding over the lip of his glass._ _

__“Not particularly,” Mr. Kim replied. “Not in Korea at least.”_ _

__I nodded, unsure of how to keep the conversation going. Luckily, Mr. Kim had a question of his own._ _

__“Shouldn’t you be home packing for your trip tomorrow?”_ _

__I laughed, a genuine smile spreading my lips as I glanced at the bartender. I was literally looking anywhere to help calm my frantic nerves. Everything about Mr. Kim was intimidating. He was deemed an enigma around the London office and that made perfect sense. Instead of living here in London where the biggest research and development building was located, he lived in solitude somewhere in Korea. He worked from home with his personal team and stockholders and board members could go months without hearing a single word from him._ _

__This was all accompanied by the fact that he was a literal genius. He helped start this company with a friend while he was studying at Oxford University. The very discovery that put them on the map was finding a treatment for a virus that became pandemic. Not long after releasing the treatment to hospitals for free, he and a team of researchers found the cure. They offered that to hospitals for free too._ _

__And that was how Quantum made it to the forefront of medical research and technology. So Mr. Kim felt like a huge presence to sit next to and his own personality made that ten times more intense._ _

__A soft shrug made Mr. Kim laugh before I verbally replied. “I should be but I wanted a drink first.”_ _

__“Packing is always better when you’re less-than-sober,” he said, nearly quoting my roommate earlier._ _

__“Funny, you’re the second person to tell me that.”_ _

__“Something tells me you surround yourself with wise people.”_ _

__Before I could stop myself, I laughed again, somewhat loudly. Immediately the back of my hand covered my mouth, my glance lingering on Mr. Kim a little longer. There was no way of me truly knowing whether or not he was serious when he said it, but I had a feeling it was meant in jest. His tone and his overall delivery just made it seem...like a joke._ _

__My eyes caught Mr. Kim looking down as he let out his own laugh. He looked so unreal. His hair was a warm honey color, obviously dyed. He was taller than I ever would’ve expected with a lean frame. He also looked like he mildly worked out. Hard cheekbones were probably the most defining bone structure in his face, but the real star feature was his lips. Thick, dark and almost as emotive as his eyes. And of course, his dimples. All of this was topped off with a gorgeous, naturally tan skin tone that gave him a certain glow._ _

__Mr. Kim was far more handsome than I gave him credit for earlier._ _

__Pressing my lips together as I quieted again, the bartender came back to me._ _

__“Do you know what you want?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow._ _

__“You never did give me a menu,” I replied, somewhat sheepishly._ _

__“Right,” he said, passing me a skinny and rectangular, leather-bound menu._ _

__The thank you and smile came out arbitrarily as he walked off to serve another couple that arrived. My fingers traced along the textured material as I debated on whether having a drink in front of my boss’ boss was a good idea. It seemed like a poor decision and one that could lead to a lot of trouble if I wasn’t careful. And it wasn’t like Jesy was paying close attention to me in her buzzed state._ _

__But it seemed the menu would offer me a definitive answer. I opened the menu and took a cursory glance at the drink menu. All the air left my lungs at the sight of the prices. This was truly a more upscale bar than what I was used to. Absurdly high prices and, judging by Mr. Kim’s glass of scotch and the couple’s newly made drinks, ridiculously small glasses._ _

__Pushing out a long sigh, I closed the menu and pushed it away from me. Perhaps I was just destined to be sober on my last night in town._ _

__“You’re not drinking,” Mr. Kim pointed out._ _

__I nodded simply, “Not really in the mood anymore.”_ _

__A lie that only served the pride of my deprived bank account._ _

__I watched as the man, no more than two years older than me, raised his eyebrows inquisitively. “Oh come on. I’ll buy you a drink, just order whatever you want.”_ _

__That offer only earned a shake of my head and me leaning back in my seat._ _

__“It’s not that big of a deal, probably best that I’m not hungover for my flight tomorrow.”_ _

__Mr. Kim only smirked wryly, “You’ve obviously never flown to Korea. It’s a damn long flight--you’ll have plenty of time to sober up.”_ _

__“So?” I asked, a laugh catching in my throat as I looked away from his gaze. “I’ve been hungover on a flight before and I will tell you, it’s the absolute worst.”_ _

__“So have I, and I’m here to tell you: You’ll survive.”_ _

__I rolled my eyes despite the sheer amusement on my face. It’d been awhile since I had such a light conversation at work or with co-workers. Coming off of the first project I ever led for the programming group, I somehow only spent my time speaking code around the building. I spoke code in the break room, I spoke code in the cafeteria. I even spoke code when muttering out programming language in the restroom between my double shifts._ _

__Real conversations just weren’t an option during that time. And while things were going back to usual, I still had a tendency to keep conversations strictly professional._ _

__But the conversation unfolding between my boss’ boss and me? Yeah, this was incredibly casual._ _

__Mr. Kim let his gaze linger on me, and for the first time in the evening I felt like I was being inspected. While my hot pink dress was rather daring for a spring night in London, the weather was nice. I had no other excuse as to why I put it on other than I thought it made my butt look curvy in all the right ways. My hair was in its natural state: a wavy texture that made me not completely hate the genes my mother passed down to me._ _

__Tonight, I was a visual 180 from what I looked like in the meeting. And I wondered what Mr. Kim was thinking as he observed._ _

__When my eyes slid over to glance at him, he was smiling as he raised his glass to his lips. In one gulp he finished off the scotch and I had to admit I was pretty impressed. I couldn’t down any amount of scotch without breathing fire afterward or puking the contents of my entire body._ _

__Before I knew what was happening, my mind began to drift to a different place. Instead of focusing on the conversation and the actions around me, I was focused on something far more insignificant--at least at this moment. It bugged me all through the meeting, but I didn’t have the balls to ask it in front of everyone, including the man who had the power to instruct my direct boss to begin the termination process on my position. But even after the meeting, I didn’t have the guts to approach my overhead boss and ask how my name even came up in the discussion. It was rude to look a gift horse in the mouth, wasn’t it?_ _

__So many hours removed from that moment and that question was still extremely fresh in my mind. It continued to gnaw at every nerve ending, hoping that at some point I would get on with it and just ask it aloud._ _

__The rules of decorum would prevent me from ever having that question answered._ _

__“Mr. Kim?”_ _

__“You can call me Namjoon--I don’t really answer to Mr. Kim all that often.”_ _

__“Namjoon,” I said, letting my mouth feel out the syllables for a moment._ _

__I never did continue on with my statement. I just sat there and chewed on his first name a little more. I’d never said it aloud. I read it several times in articles about the company or in inter-company emails or press releases._ _

__“Are you going to finish your question or did you just want permission to address me by my first name?” Mr. Kim asked beside me, tilting his head a bit as he watched me._ _

__It was warm under his gaze, that much I could admit. A blush rose in my cheeks at the realization that I initially intended to ask him the very question I _just_ told myself I couldn’t ask aloud. As I looked over, I’m sure my face held all the guilt I felt at wanting to have that question answered. It was also clear that Mr. Kim was reading it._ _

__“It’s not an easy question is it?” he asked, eyes staring intently at me. They didn’t wander and they didn’t stray away from me as I stared back, wide-eyed._ _

__“It’s just,” I trailed off, looking down at my lap as I tried to muster up any type of courage to just blurt the question out or at the very least come up with some stupid question to ask him instead._ _

__“It’s just what?”_ _

__It was clear from his face and his tone that he found this situation to be funny and it almost made me indignant. But no matter how indignant I became, he was still a guy that held a lot of power over my livelihood._ _

__Biting back every word I wanted to use to argue about how much this wasn’t a joke, I inhaled long and deep before turning my body in the seat so that I could face him._ _

__“It’s not that I wasn’t grateful to be seated in the meeting this morning and even more grateful that you decided to extend this project invitation to me, but…”_ _

__The confidence and certainty I started with began to wain faster than I counted on. With Mr. Kim’s eyes not leaving me once and his finger swirling around the empty glass’ lip, I wondered if it was too late to back out._ _

___Of course it was._ _ _

__Clearing my throat, I started again, “I’m incredibly grateful to have this opportunity, but--”_ _

__“How did we come across you?”_ _

__The only thing that could be heard between us after that question was me releasing the loudest sigh of relief. He seemed to pick up what I wanted to say before I even said it._ _

__“I think that’s a fair question,” Mr. Kim said, nodding as he shifted in his seat, his knee bumping mine casually. I watched in anticipatory silence as Mr. Kim stared at me just a little longer before he finally continued. “Fair but a question with a blindingly obvious answer.”_ _

__My left eyebrow raised in response. What did that mean?_ _

__“Oh, don’t be so modest,” he said, shaking his head. “You went to California Institute of Technology for your undergrad and MIT for your graduate degrees. You hold a Bachelors of Science in mechanical engineering and Masters degrees in Theoretical Engineering and Computer Sciences. Not to mention you were team lead for software programming on the brand new MRI machines we rolled out over the last eight months.”_ _

__I shrugged. “Yeah, but Henley was a software engineer for NASA. Jerry basically was around when coding first became a free-form poetry slam and not just a means to an end. And Marco went to Cambridge for his Engineering doctorate.”_ _

__“Yet you were the one who led the programming team to several key discoveries and imperfections involving code in our current line of MRI equipment before we began to ship them out. Strange.”_ _

__He gave me a smile that looked like he was amused about how lost I was in the logic of his and my boss’ decision. There were several team members way more qualified than me, all with a background filled with coding and programming experience as well as doctorates to prove the point. It didn’t make sense._ _

__“I don’t buy that.”_ _

__“I wasn’t selling it,” Mr. Kim said, his tone so serious but a soft smile creating soft indents in his cheeks. “This isn’t some snake oil deal okay? We chose you because without your keen eye, we would’ve rolled out an entirely new fleet with similar issues in its code, only this time it would’ve been worse.”_ _

__My eyes didn’t leave him as he held a finger up before catching the bartender. Rattling off two drink orders, he offered the man a warm smile before turning his attention back to me. Dark orbs searched me before he breathed in a heavy sigh._ _

__“Look at it this way: yes, Marco has a shiny doctorate that pretty much entitles him to be paid nearly $15,000 more than your current salary; Henley already has a beaming portfolio and is close to retirement--why would I give him more work than he’s willing to take on at one time? But none of that is what we were looking for,” he said._ _

__The bartender promptly returned with two glasses. One with the recognizable amber liquid of scotch and the other a fun blue color. It also came with a slightly larger glass._ _

__“What I’m trying to say is I don’t give a shit where you went to school, how much debt you went into to prove you know a bunch of stuff or how long you’ve been doing this,” Mr. Kim continued, never once breaking his steady gaze. “I need someone with a natural instinct to look at what’s placed before him or her and interpret only that. The flaw you found in the code was missed by that Cambridge graduate, and everyone else. You’re the one who found a tiny needle in the haystack because you looked at what you were given and you analyzed it. Simple as that.”_ _

__My mouth opened and closed several times after that. I wondered if there was any right response to what he just said. By the sound of it, he chose me because of something everyone else missed. With that logic, there could’ve been a number of reasons Henley, Jerry, Marco or any other member on the team missed that flaw in the code. My memory tried to jog up some mental image of the room that day when we examined that code line-for-line in preparation to write the code’s new updates. Nothing stuck out particularly in that respect. I just happened to read that section of the code and found it._ _

__But I wasn’t about to argue with Mr. Kim after he extended the invitation and was gracious enough to explain himself. All I hoped for at this point was that my skills were on par with the rest of his personal research team._ _

__“I guess I didn’t see it that way,” I said softly, eyebrows scrunching as I mentally replayed his explanation._ _

__He nodded. “Besides, you make it sound like you never went to college. You went to fucking MIT, the top university for engineering in the world. Don’t forget that. Now--” I watched in a confused haze as Mr. Kim slid the large blue drink in my direction, “I got you a drink that matched your outfit,” he commented with an easy laugh. “Drink up.”_ _


End file.
